I was bored and dealing with a little writer's block so here is a little drabble about Mickey and Liam. The show didn't give us much about their dynamic but I think it could have been cute. So if you're also bored, please enjoy!
Technically, Liam has known Mickey Milkovich almost all his life. Plenty of stories about him as a baby involve Mickey as a peripheral character.
He has a few memories of Mickey from back then. Or at least heard other people’s memories enough times they’ve become his.
But mostly, his impressions of Mickey came from what he heard from his family growing up.
Dirty, convict, violent, aggressive, crazy.
Liam doesn’t really understand how those fit in with someone Ian dated for years. Before Ian went to prison, he would sometimes see him swiping through old photos on his phone, fingers hovering over Mickey’s face.
Why would Ian miss someone like that?
But then he finally meets Mickey.
He stumbles into the bathroom and there’s a person already in there, brushing his teeth with Ian’s toothbrush.
The house has been filled with people Liam doesn’t know for weeks but this one is different. For one, he’s not Mexican.
But more importantly, he’s the guy from Ian’s phone.
Mickey.
“Hey.”
Mickey jumps, whipping around to face Liam with wide blue eyes.
“The fuck? You can’t just fucking scare people like that, kid. Some of us got PTSD and shit.”
He sounds like how Liam thought Mickey would sound. Looks like him too. His face is covered in cuts.
“What happened to you?” he asks, pointing at Mickey’s face. Mickey reaches a hand up to press at the cut. Liam reads the words on his fingers.
F-U-C-K.
Mickey doesn’t answer though, he’s looking at Liam with wide, surprised eyes. Liam shifts a little. It’s the look he usually gets when people see him with his siblings or find out he’s Frank and Monica’s kid. But Mickey wouldn’t be surprised by him being black. Mickey’s seen Liam before.
“What?” he asks, feeling a bit self-conscious
“Nothin’,” Mickey replies, shaking his head a bit. “You’re just uh...you’re big. Last time I saw you, you were in diapers and shit.”
“You were gone for a long time,” Liam responds.
“Yeah, kid. I was.”
“Did you break out of jail again?”
Liam doesn’t really remember that, but like when Mickey was around when he was a baby, he’s heard about it.
Mickey the violent fugitive. Who almost convinced Ian to throw his life away and run to Mexico.
For some reason, the guy in his bathroom doesn’t seem like the guy his family used to talk about.
“Nah. They let me out legally this time. But anyone comes around here and is looking for me, tell ‘em I’m not here. Alright kid?”
“Alright,” Liam agrees. Frank’s had the same request more than once. “So what happened to your face?”
“Oh, uh, I jumped out of a bus,” Mickey says, rather nonchalantly. Liam raises his eyebrows. “Thought someone was chasing me.”
“You’re kind of paranoid,” Liam points out and Mickey grins.
“Yeah well, let me know what you’re like when you’ve got a cartel after you.”
“Like a drug cartel?” Liam’s heard about those from Frank.
“Yeah kid, like a drug cartel.”
One of Carl’s friends clears his throat, clearly waiting to use the bathroom. Liam walks away, listening as Mickey says something rude to the guy about waiting his turn. He walks into Ian’s room.
“Mickey’s here,” he says. Ian looks up at him from where he’s lying on the bed.
“I know.”
“He says a cartel is looking for him.”
“I know,” Ian repeats, sighing. “He’s paranoid.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Did he tell you to fuck off?” Ian asks tiredly.
“No.”
“Threaten to kick your ass?”
“No.”
Ian frowns at him, sitting up a bit.
“Huh. Guess he likes you.”
It turns out Mickey does like Liam.
At least, more than he likes most other people.
Liam doesn’t mind having him around. He’s loud and swears a lot but he’s also pretty funny. He doesn’t take Lip or Debbie’s crap the way most people do. He teaches Liam how to throw a punch when Liam complains about a bully. Liam is never going to punch anyone, but it’s still nice to know.
Mostly, he just makes Ian really happy.
They fight all the time, like all the time. But their fights are different from Lip and Tami’s or Fiona and her boyfriends. They’re never that serious. They never last for more than a day.
And they always have sex afterward.
Liam knows this because Liams hears it. Every night.
“I didn’t know two people could fuck that much,” Carl groans one night as they both lie in bed, trying to ignore the sound of the bed frame smashing into the wall.
“It’s good, right? They love each other?” Liam asks. Because for some reason, he wants Ian and Mickey to make it. He’s only nine but he’s seen enough relationships fall apart. Mickey and Ian are the first couple he’s ever seen that seem good. Like having someone in your corner might be a good thing.
Carl just shrugs.
“Yeah, I guess. Hopefully they move out soon.”
Liam isn’t sure he agrees. Even with all the sex.
A few weeks after he moves into Lip’s new house, Lip and Tami decide to go visit Tami’s family for the weekend so Liam stays with Ian and Mickey.
He feels a little weird at first. They have almost no furniture so he sleeps on a blow up mattress in the living room. Mickey spends most of the first night complaining about everyone else in the building, and the entire West Side for that matter, but Ian doesn’t seem to care. Just rolls his eyes but still grins at Mickey over the dinner table.
Liam and Ian spend most of their Saturday at the pool. Apparently Mickey’s not allowed there anymore. Something about a chair.
Liam looks over at Mickey while Ian is out to get groceries for dinner. They’re both sitting upright on the blow-up mattress watching some basketball game neither of them cares about.
“I like your apartment,” Liam says. Mickey rolls his eyes.
“Of course you do. You’re like Ian.”
“There are a lot of white people here though.”
Mickey nods in fervent agreement.
“I wish I could have lived with you guys instead.”
It’s not entirely true, Liam knows Tami and Lip are closer to his school and his friends. Plus he gets his own room there. But Lip and Tami fight a lot and are so busy with the new baby coming, Liam spends most of his time alone or babysitting Freddie.
At least Ian and Mickey hang out with him.
Mickey is staring at him though, eyes wide.
“What?” Liam asks, a bit defensively.
“You...you’d want to live with us?” Mickey asks, his voice higher than Liam’s ever heard it.
“Sure,” Liam says with a shrug. “Your apartment is cool. Ian is a better cook than Lip or Tami. You wouldn’t stare over my shoulder while I do my math homework.”
The last one is mostly a joke, Liam doesn’t know if Mickey can do math, but Mickey still looks like someone smacked him over the head.
“Are you okay? You look kinda weird.”
Mickey clears his throat, turning back to the TV.
“Yeah kid, I’m good. Just uh figured we’d be your last choice to live with is all.”
That doesn’t make any sense to Liam. No one wants to live with Debbie. Carl can barely bathe himself.
“Why?” he asks Mickey. Mickey shrugs.
“I don’t know. You’re smart and shit. Ian and I didn’t even graduate high school.”
“Why would that matter?” Liam asks, trying to follow his logic.
“I don’t fucking know. I just figured it mattered. Plus we’re both kinda fucking crazy, you know?”
“I grew up with Frank,” Liam counters. “You guys are fine.”
“Right well uh, Lip’s better at the parenting stuff anyway. It’s good for you.”
Liam doesn’t say anything, just sulks a little. Mickey grins at him.
“You look just like Ian when I tell him I’m not gonna su-I mean when I don’t do what he says. That fucking chin.”
“Whatever,” Liam says. He pretends to watch more basketball.
“You can come over whenever you want, you know? I think we’ve got a spare key somewhere. Just uh...text first. Not always PG-13 in here.”
Liam wrinkles his nose. But he grins too.
“Really?”
“Sure. You’re not so bad. Debbie’s way worse.”
Liam grins wider.
“Cool.”
